Urethral stricture is narrowing of the urethra that is a disease that can be caused by the following mechanism. When the urethral mucosa is wounded by injury or inflammation, the urethral mucosa or the corpus spongiosum penis surrounding the urethral mucosa develops into scar tissue in the process of wound healing, and as a result, the urethra can be narrowed due to the scar tissue.
A method of surgically reconstructing the urethra is known, in which to help prevent the recurrence of the urethral stricture, oral mucosa is grafted to a treatment site of the inner wall of the urethra by means of direct suture. However, this method can be relatively highly invasive to patients and can include a long period of hospitalization.
A method for treating urethral stricture is also known in which the prepuce of penis is held on the outer circumferential portion of a device, and the device is transurethrally inserted into the urethra in this state and brought into contact with a treatment site of the prepuce of penis so as to help prevent the recurrence of the urethral stricture.
As described in JP-A0-8-526731, a urethral catheter is disclosed that is transurethrally inserted into the urethra to help treat prostatic hypertrophy. According to the aforementioned document, in the urethral catheter, a balloon on the distal side is indwelled into the bladder, and a positioning balloon is disposed in the region of the bulb of penis, such that the urethral catheter can be fixed, and the urethral stricture caused by the prostatic hypertrophy can be treated as intended.